From Dave Ringe

Joe,

To reflect on you is an awkward thing for me. I wasn't as close to you
as some here might have been - I wasn't lucky enough to live with you or
even hang out with you outside of swimming that much. Like others, its
had been awhile since the last time I got to speak with you - I think it
was about a year ago when you were on campus one morning before a
football game or alumni relays. Still, you made enough of an impact on
my life in the 3+ years we swam together to make me want to share what I
can in the hopes that it would honor you and those close to you.

You were single-handedly responsible for my first memory as a Trojan.
On my recruiting trip you and the guys took me to Hooters where after
gorging ourselves with wings, our waitress proceeded to teach some of us
how to 'properly' use our napkins at my request (the way I'm writing it
sounds more debaucherous than it was, but its hard to describe any
better than that). Anyway, this must have scored me some points because
you promptly stood up and belted "that boy's comin to 'SC." For someone
who grew up in a sheltered life in a small town, this meant a lot to me
to see someone genuinely want me to be a part of their team. It was a
big reason why I became a Trojan. When you hear people talk about 'it's
the team that made me come to 'SC', you are who they are referring to.

Speaking of team, you were the epitome of it. Somehow you were ALWAYS
involved in initiation, not because of the fun torture we got to put the
freshman through, but because of the team-building aspect of it. You
got the point of the whole thing and got pissed when others didn't
respect it. Oh, and you seemed to like extracurricular stretching a lot
too. Not sure how much team-building that was, but I remember you were
really good at it and it made me laugh.

One of the other things I remember about you was your intensity. If
there's anything anyone could learn from you, it was how to be intense.
You were intense in how much you cared about people and how you
approached everything. If it was the weight room, you were intense. If
it was in the pool, you were intense. If he was on the pool deck, you
were intense. If it was Stanford, you were boiling. If it was telling
people what you thought, you were intense. Even a few months ago when
you reaffirmed what you were doing, you were intense. You seemed to
have a passion for life that I don't see everyday. Its almost ironic
that you are the first person I've known relatively well that's passed
away. Your short life has reiterated to me that life is short and that
we need to be intense. I don't know all of the details of how you
passed, but it sounds like you went doing something you loved. That's
something I can only hope to achieve when that day comes.

Thanks Joe - for being fearless and for serving the rest of us in many
ways that most of us never could, in the pool and out.

I know you'll do it anyways, but Fight On,

Ringer